Top Feeder Companies to Wharton’s MBA Program

by John A. ByrnePoets & QuantsAuthor on August 7, 2011

Top 25 Feeder Companies For Wharton’s Class of 2013

It’s not surprisingly, perhaps, that McKinsey & Co. is sends the largest single contingent to the Wharton School. As much as 5.5% of the entire Class of 2013 come from the prestige management consulting firm. One of the world’s largest consulting firms, McKinsey is not merely a feeder to Wharton. It is also the school’s top recruiter, having scooped up 44 MBAs–roughly the same number of McKinseyites (46) estimated to be in this year’s incoming class.

Wharton has long been one of McKinsey’s most important sources of talent, according to Steve Kelly, a McKinsey partner who is Wharton’s recruiting leader. On the firm’s website, Kelly maintains a section on Wharton recruitment. Among other things, it notes that more than 60 partners in the firm are Wharton alumni and that there is at least one Wharton graduate in 71 of McKinsey’s more than 90 offices.

Seven of the top dozen feeder companies into Wharton are consulting firms. McKinsey is followed by No. 2 Boston Consulting Group, No. 3 Bain & Co., No. 7 Deloitte, No. 9 Booz & Co., and tied at No. 10 Accenture and Oliver Wyman. The big financial players are well represented as well. Led by Goldman Sachs, which sent an estimated 18 to Wharton, four of the top 12 firms are from finance. Following Goldman are No. 4 JP Morgan, No. 5 Morgan Stanley, and No. 10 Barclays Bank.

Wharton’s Top Feeder Organizations

Estimated % of Class of 2013

Estimated Number in Class of 2012

Found in

Facebook

1. McKinsey & Co. New York, NY

5.5%

47

30

2. Boston Consulting Group Boston, MA

4.6%

39

25

3. Bain & Co. Boston, MA

3.1%

26

17

4. Goldman Sachs New York, NY

2.0%

17

11

4. JP Morgan New York, NY

2.0%

17

11

6. Morgan Stanley Boston, MA

1.8%

16

10

7. Deloitte New York, NY

1.5%

12

8

7. U.S. Army Various locations

1.5%

12

8

7. Booz & Co. New York, NY

1.5%

12

8

10. Barclays Bank London, U.K.

1.1%

9

6

10. Accenture New York, NY

1.1%

9

6

10. Oliver Wyman Boston, MA

1.1%

9

6

13. Google Mountain View, CA

0.9%

8

5

13. LEK Consulting London, U.K.

0.9%

8

5

15. American Express New York, NY

0.7%

6

4

15. Deutsche Bank Frankfurt, Germany

0.7%

6

4

15. UBS Zurich, Switzerland

0.7%

6

4

15. Microsoft Redmond, WA

0.7%

6

4

19. Procter & Gamble Cincinnati, OH

0.6%

5

3

19. World Bank Washington, DC

0.6%

5

3

19. Monitor Group Boston, MA

0.6%

5

3

19. Bank of America San Francisco, CA

0.6%

5

3

23. Blackstone Group New York, NY

0.4%

3

2

23. A.T. Kearney Chicago, IL

0.4%

3

2

23. Credit Suisse Zurich, Switzerland

0.4%

3

2

23. Huron Consulting Group Chicago, IL

0.4%

3

2

Source: These numbers are calculated from Wharton’s Class of 2013 Facebook page. Some 621 members of the incoming class of 845 could be verified by Poets&Quants. The work backgrounds of 544 of those students were confirmed via Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social networks. he actual number of students enrolled in the class is 845. The estimate of students with work experience at a specific firm is based on the percentage of the confirmed sample who have worked fo that employer. Data compiled by Liza Rodler.

Are the numbers for any given company with multiple job functions (Deloitte, Microsoft, Google, etc.) including all the functions, or simply one or two? In other words, do the numbers above for Microsoft, for example, include both engineering and business candidates, or simply one or the other. In the same fashion, what is the breakup with Deloitte between Big 4 candidates and consultants?